Fontana recall drive is moving forward, organizer says

FONTANA - The recall effort against two school board members is in full swing, according to one of its principal organizers.

"We are in full gear," said Jesse Armendarez, who leads the Recall Garcia and Green coalition.

"We need just shy of 8,000 signatures to become a ballot item, and I have a personal goal of 15,000," he said.

The deadline is Jan. 30. It was unclear how many petition signatures have actually been gathered.

But Armendarez was bold in the number he could get.

"I want to show an overwhelming concern of the community," he said. "I would love to get that many (15,000). It would speak volumes."

Organizers began their recall effort against Leticia Garcia and Sophia Green last year, fueled by the trustees' opposition to a city-run after-school program.

Some opponents of the recall effort say it is being orchestrated by Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren, a charge Armendarez and Warren deny.

"We worked hard to get her on this committee," Armendarez said. "We really worked to get the mayor to throw her support to our group.

"It really helped us a great deal. ... Her understanding of everything. ... She really has a heart for the kids," he said.

Armendarez said he has about 40 volunteers circulating the recall petitions and about four who are paid.

In addition to the grievance about the after-school program, which the recall group says serves 3,500 students, the recall supporters cite a failed effort, spearheaded by Garcia, to pass a parcel tax. That election cost Fontana Unified $147,000, the group says.

The recall drive also targets what the group claims are "repeated attacks by Garcia and Green on the integrity of the district's administration and school superintendent."

In a statement, Green said the reasons for the recall are "baseless and have no merit.

"The proponents of this effort have resorted to lying to the public to fool them into signing the petition. ... The tactics this group is using are unethical, un-American, and designed to distract citizens from the real issues that have come to the attention of the public since my election," Green wrote.

Garcia, in a statement, said "many citizens of Fontana have called me to voice their outrage over the recall signature gatherers fraudulent statements. ... These tactics illustrate that they have no grounds for a recall and these false and slanderous statements are designed to fill the gaping hole in their effort."

"Residents of Fontana should know this does not deter or distract me at all from continuing to exercise stern fiduciary oversight of their tax dollars," Garcia wrote.

She said the $200,000-plus cost of a recall election could pay for band uniforms, or expand theater programs.

The recall drive has prompted at least one local peacemaker to ask for the sides to tone it down and communicate.

"My desire as a pastor in this community is that the recall end and both sides start talking to each other," said D.C. Nosakhere Thomas of Rainbow Community Praise Center International. "I feel that both sides have dug and won't talk and that this going to cost this community in terms of morale and forward momentum ... in what we are able to accomplish."